Truth or Dare

My fascination with Michael Walker began the day Gloria introduced us after Debate class.

I caught the flue the day before, and was wearing a pair of sweats, a woolly scarf and baggy t-shirt. Not the sexiest outfit to meet your possible future husband with, obviously, but my attending Debate class that day had come only after about two hours of self argument.

My louder, obnoxious self felt that I was sick enough to effectively pull a sickie and the quieter, more timid one was certain that I wasn’t.

Gloria and Peony, both in my Debate class, shot me sympathetic glances when I walked in – red nosed, blurry eyed and sick as a dog. I took the seat closest to my tutor - it being the only one empty - opened my text book and covered my face with it. Snot filled tissues, a bottle of lemonade and Vicks vaporub beside me, Mr. Reynolds pretty much left me to my own devices the whole time.

“You look like shit,” Peony hissed, once class was over. She handed me a tissue from the box on my lap and withdrew her hand quickly. I was sure she was convinced that I could infect her by just a sniffle because she kept her face and mouth as far away from me as physically possible. Sitting up, I sneezed into my hands and wiped my spit on the hem of her dress. Peony almost had an aneurysm.

“Eew, get away from me!” the red head shot to her feet and jumped a mile away. It was just her luck that one of the Puerto Rican exchange students was standing right behind her when she did.

“Excuse me!”

I giggled at the look on the boy’s face but got up when Mr. Reynolds called my name.

“You got into that mock debate, Ms. Kent,” he said, “will you be able to make it?”

I took the brown envelope from his hand and nodded quickly. “Absolutely, thanks Mr. R.”

The balding man shot a red faced Peony a look before turning back to me.

“Turn up less infectious, please?”

I tried not to smile.

“No problem.”

Gloria met me outside, books in her arm. “What did you do to Peony?” she asked me when I reached her.

I giggled. “I wiped my spit on her skirt.”

“You are joking.”

I just shook my head.

Gloria turned to look at a still apologising Peony and burst out laughing. “I can’t believe you did that.”

Shaking the funny off, I nudged the girl out the door when Peony shot me a dirty look. “I gotta get outta here before she regains her strength. Move it buster!”

Gloria shook her head but wisely stepped aside.

Eyes still glued on Peony, I half ran, half walked out the door when something hit me. The force of the collision had me reeling, and I reached for the nearest wall to steady myself.

Warm fingers wrapped around my wrist and pulled. My legs straightened and I found my head.

“I’m sorry. Are you okay?”

Blinking at the sudden light, I looked up to see a pair of brown eyes peering down at me. They were hooded under a pair of dark, bushy eyebrows.

Man eyes, I thought.

“I’m... I’m fine.” I was stammering but I didn’t dare look away from him.

The world could have ended, the stock market crashed and moon hit the earth and I would have been stuck there, ogling after this person who was most definitely the most beautiful creature to have ever graced this planet.

Gloria was suddenly beside me.

“Michael, hey!”

Her voice, and the familiarity in it, made me turn to look at her. If she had been paying me any attention she would have seen the ‘How do you know this guy’ look I was throwing her.

The fact that she wasn’t kind of irritated me so I wrapped my arms around myself and studied the lint on this Michael’s sweater. It was white, it was big and it was annoying.

Half of me wanted to brush it away and the other half was still nervous about Peony getting to me before I could make my escape. You haven’t been hit on the shoulder if you haven’t been hit by Peony Darryls.

“Hey Gloria!” the greeting he gave her equalled hers in warmth. They stepped out of the hallway that was quickly filling up and leaned against the railings. I had no choice but to follow suit. We had a fencing class after and Gloria was my ride there.

“So did you go training last Friday?” Gloria was asking.

She had moved all her books to one arm and was leaning on the wall with the other. I took the wall behind her and leaned back against it. In retrospect, hovering probably wasn’t the most attractive thing to do when you’re trying your best not to ogle at the boy your friend is talking to but I couldn’t do anything else. I’d like to blame the Advil I’d just so recently consumed for the lapse in judgement but that would be a lie.

I was just a hoverer, plain and simple.

“I did. Bianca was incorporating new techniques into the footing stances.”

His voice sounded like it belonged on a radio program somewhere, educating the world about just how beautiful the face it was connected to truly was.

The boy glanced once at me, and then looked back at Gloria. I think he was wondering what I was hanging around them for. I tried to smile at him; all seductive like Angelina Jolie does in the movies, and blushed when he frowned.

Gloria noticed the change of expression and turned to look at me. “Oh how rude of me!” she exclaimed, fingers touching a pale forehead.

“Michael, this is my friend Hayley. Hayley, this is Michael.”

The cough that threatened to spill really couldn’t have come at a worse time. I reached out a hand to grab the one he had offered (had a mini mental orgasm when I felt how soft his skin was) and sneezed into my other hand. Pulling quickly at him, I muttered a small apology and looked at my feet, letting my loose hair fall forward.

My mortification stopped me from looking up at him again. Turning to Gloria, I wound my sweater tighter around myself and pointed somewhere to the right. She caught on fast.

“Are you going on ahead?” she asked.

I nodded quickly, afraid to speak in case my voice broke.

“I’ll be at the car park,” I half whispered.

Michael gave a small chuckle.

“I thought the car park was that side?” He was pointing to the left.

I followed the direction he was looking too and then turned back to him. Big mistake that was. Every time our eyes met, my tongue went numb and I forgot how to breathe.

“I... I... well...”

“She needs to pick something up from the Dean’s office.” Gloria cut in.

I swear I could have hugged her if it wasn’t for the embarrassment that was flooding my cheeks with blood.

Michael chuckled again and Gloria gave me a wave. Her brown eyes, I noticed, looked understanding.

I think she would have figured out the reason to my stuttering foolery soon enough.

“I’ll be quick, ok?” Gloria told me, helping me along.

I nodded once at her, gave the exquisite Michael creature another look then turned my heel and walked away.

About ninety eight point seven per cent of me wished to heck that I hadn’t.